Various types of manual and automatic spray guns are known. There are, for example, the manual spray guns illustrated and described in the following listed U.S. Patents and published applications: 2003/0006322; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,712,292; 6,698,670; 6,669,112; 6,572,029; 6,460,787; 6,402,058; RE36,378; 6,276,616; 6,189,809; 6,179,223; 5,836,517; 5,829,679; 5,803,313; RE35,769; 5,639,027; 5,618,001; 5,582,350; 5,553,788; 5,400,971; 5,395,054; D349,559; 5,351,887; 5,332,159; 5,332,156; 5,330,108; 5,303,865; 5,299,740; 5,289,974; 5,284,301; 5,284,299; 5,236,129; 5,209,405; 5,209,365; 5,178,330; 5,119,992; 5,118,080; 5,180,104; D325,241; 5,090,623; 5,074,466; 5,064,119; 5,054,687; D318,712; 5,022,590; 4,993,645; 4,934,607; 4,934,603; 4,927,079; 4,911,367; D305,453; D305,452; D305,057; D303,139; 4,844,342; 4,770,117; 4,760,962; 4,759,502; 4,747,546; 4,702,420; 4,613,082; 4,606,501; D287,266; 4,537,357; 4,529,131; 4,513,913; 4,483,483; 4,453,670; 4,437,614; 4,433,812; 4,401,268; 4,361,283; D270,368; D270,367; D270,180; D270,179; RE30,968; 4,331,298; 4,248,386; 4,214,709; 4,174,071; 4,174,070; 4,169,545; 4,165,022; D252,097; 4,133,483; 4,116,364; 4,114,564; 4,105,164; 4,081,904; 4,037,561; 4,030,857; 4,002,777; 4,001,935; 3,990,609; 3,964,683; and, 3,940,061.
It is also known in the art of vehicle fuel tank filler neck caps to provide the caps with clutches permitting the caps to be driven onto the filler necks to predetermined torques. This prevents, among other things, overtightening of the cap onto the filler neck and possible damage to the gasket that seals the cap to the filler neck to prevent the escape of fuel and fuel vapor from the fuel tank.
The disclosures of these references are hereby incorporated herein by reference. The above discussions are not intended to be a representation that a complete search of all relevant art has been made, or that no more pertinent art than that listed exists, or that the listed art is material to patentability. Nor should any such representation be inferred.
One fairly common characteristic of such spray guns is a threaded ring at the front of the spray gun for retaining on the front end of the spray gun an air cap, nozzle, or the like, necessary for the proper operation of the spray gun. A problem associated with such threaded rings is that they can be overtightened. Overtightening may make it difficult to remove the threaded ring if it should be necessary or desirable to remove the air cap, nozzle, or the like which the threaded ring is holding on the spray gun, for example, to clean it, repair it or replace it. Additionally, overtightening the air cap, nozzle, or the like can distort the shape of the air cap, nozzle, or the like. Such distortion can change the physical, spatial relationships of the various orifices provided by such an air cap, nozzle, or the like. Changing the spatial relationships of such orifices can adversely impact the quality of atomization of the coating material being dispensed from such a spray gun. This, in turn, can adversely impact the coating provided by the dispensed coating material.